This invention relates to knives and in particular a specialized knife for de-veining, peeling and butterflying a de-headed shrimp in the preparation for breading and frying.
In the seafood restaurant business, a popular seafood dish is fried shrimp, where the individual shrimp (usually a large or jumbo size) has been de-headed, de-veined and has had its outer shell removed except generally for the last small body shell segment and the attached tail portion. The latter are generally retained with the shrimp body to provide a "handle" for holding the shrimp during the food preparation stage and by a customer when eating the finished dish. After de-heading, de-veining and shell peeling, the shrimp body is then "butterflyed" or "slit" with a knife longitudinally and centrally down its back to a predetermined depth to permit the "halves" of the shrimp body to lay open and "flat" and assume the familiar "butterfly" shape of fried shrimp. The "butterflyed" shrimp is then coated with a selected seasoned batter and pan or deep fried to attain the popular "fried shrimp" seafood dish.
The preparation of the shrimp for frying as above described and using conventional implements is a labor intensive and time consuming process. The prior art discloses a shrimp peeling, de-veining and "butterflying" machine that will de-vein and remove the shell from the shrimp body mechanically, and "butterfly" the shrimp body in one operation. However, the peeling and de-veining machine is expensive to purchase (on the order of $500.00), and maintain, and if not carefully adjusted for the size of shrimp being processed, will damage the shrimp by making the "butterfly" cut too deep thus cutting the shrimp body in half or mangling a portion of the shrimp body. This damage to the shrimp body will often render the shrimp unusuable as "fried shrimp," thus wasting shrimp and adding greatly to the cost of the fried shrimp operation since the large or jumbo shrimp generally used are also the most expensive shrimp.
The shrimp can be de-headed, de-veined, shelled and "butterflyed" by hand, and tools to aid in this operation have been developed. An instrument for de-veining and shelling the shrimp is sold by the Slade Gorton Company and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,359. The disclosed elongated tool is an integrally molded instrument for longitudinal insertion into the visceral cavity of a de-headed shrimp and has a set of saw teeth disposed thereon to engage the vein in the visceral cavity and remove the vein as the tool is thrust through the shrimp body. The tool also includes an inclined shoulder for engaging the shrimp shell and forcing it upwardly to split the shell along the underside of the body and force the shell away from the body along the top of the shrimp.
In other embodiments of the tool, molded integrally from plastic, the inclined shoulder also includes serrated spaced plastic teeth that do not have a sharp cutting edge. The inclined shoulder with integral plastic teeth help in splitting the top ridge of the shrimp body overlying the longitudinally disposed visceral cavity and occasionally sever a portion of the shell, but since the plastic teeth are not sharp, the teeth will not sever the tough shrimp shell segments along the back of the shrimp, but will generally only continue to tear the shrimp shell upwardly to separate the shell as disclosed in the above mentioned patent. Additionally, the tool often tears the shrimp shell along the sides or in several pieces, thereby making it more time consuming to remove the entire shell. However, although the shrimp has been de-veined and shelled or peeled, a separate "butterflying" operation must still be performed to prepare the shrimp for frying.
Since the de-veining, shelling, butterflying, and breading operations as performed by hand are labor intensive and costly, and a restaurant often cannot afford the luxury of an expensive processing machine unless the restaurant can process an extremely large quantity of shrimp for frying, many restaurants have opted for discontinuing "butterflying" the shrimp and frying them "whole" (de-headed, de-veined and peeled) or have discontinued serving fried shrimp altogether, because of the high cost of processing. For example, the labor cost to process 50 pounds of #31-35 size shrimp (31-35 fresh de-headed shrimp per pound) by hand, using conventional de-veining and shelling tools, and then separately "butterflying" the shrimp body and breading the shrimp for frying (excluding the original cost of the shrimp) can typically run approximately $2.75 per pound including losing 3 to 5 pounds due to breakage.
However, utilizing the knife invention disclosed herein, a de-headed shrimp in its shell can be de-veined, peeled, and "butterflyed" in one simple manual operation thus effecting a dramatic savings in labor cost in preparing the shrimp. Using the de-veining, peeling and butterflying knife herein disclosed, it is possible to routinely reduce the preparation costs of size #31-35 shrimp through the breading step by one-half to two-thirds, or down to about $0.90 per pound and reduce the wastage rae to less than one-half pound or so. In addition, a skilled operator using the knife can prepare a better and more asthetic shrimp product and greatly reduce the damaged shrimp and wastage. This dramatic savings in labor costs and reduction of wastage will greatly enhance the restaurant's profit margin, and in many cases, make the serving of "butterflyed" fried shrimp profitable again.
Accordingly, one primary feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that is simple to use and can accomplish the operations in a single maneuver.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that is inexpensive and affordable by all restaurants intending to serve fried shrimp.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that will cut through the hard shell segments down the back of the shrimp in alignment with the "butterflying" slit in the shrimp body to enable the shell to be easily removed from the shrimp body.
Still another feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that is simple and easy to use and will prevent unintentional damage to the shrimp body thus saving wastage of expensive frying shrimp.
Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that can reduce the labor costs of preparing the shrimp for frying in the range of 50% to 65% over conventional multiple hand operations.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that breaks the outer shrimp shell segments along the back of the shrimp away from the shrimp body for aiding in shell removal and peeling.
Still another feature of the present invention is to provide a knife for de-veining, peeling and "butterflying" shrimp that is safe to use since the knife blade never cuts toward the hand or body of the person using the knife.